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Gateway Course Required for the Beginning Major
Engl 25000
Introduction to Literary Study
20103 sec. D Elizabeth Mazzola M, W 12:30 – 1:45pm
20197 sec. F TBA M, W 3:30 – 4:45pm
20106 sec. M TBA T, TH 11:00 – 12:15pm
20105 sec. R TBA T, TH 3:30 – 4:45pm
20104 sec. S Constance Hsu T, TH 5:00 – 6:15pm
This course offers an introduction for beginning English majors to the practices and concepts in the study
of literature. We will think carefully about literature as a form of representation – about what literary texts mean as well as how they mean. The course will help students to develop a critical vocabulary and method for reading and writing about literature, as well as introduce them to the cultural contexts and backgrounds of various literary traditions. Our readings will explore a variety of genres and styles – short fiction, the novel, narrative poetry, lyric poetry, and forms of drama. Above all, this is a class in reading and (frequent) writing which will emphasize close reading techniques, interpretive approaches, the making of arguments, and the development of individual critical voices in order to prepare students to succeed in advanced English elective courses.
Literature Courses
200- Level courses
Please note: These 200-level courses are designed to introduce beginning students to literary history, critical approaches, and formal terminology. They typically have a minimum of 3-5 shorter assignments, a variety of in-class writing tasks, and assume no prior background in the discipline. For this reason, majors are not permitted to take more than four (4) 200-level classes.
Engl 21300
Grammar
(fulfills Secondary English Education conc. req. in sociolinguistics)
19877 sec. G Danny Katch M, W 5:00 – 6:15pm
19875 sec. S TBA T, TH 5:00 – 6:15pm
This class will provide an overview of the rules of applied grammar, syntax, and sentence structure; an introduction to social and critical theories about “Standard” English and language diversity; and strategies and techniques for teaching grammar and writing.
Engl 26000
Studies in Genre: Introduction to the Novel
(fulfills Secondary English Education conc. req. for historical survey)
20152 sec. L Robert Higney T, TH 9:30 – 10:45am
“I am a novelist, and my goal in writing a novel is to leave the reader not knowing what to think.” –Teju Cole, author of Open City (2013).
Novels—long works of prose fiction—are at the center of English-language literature, and have been for over two hundred years. Novels still sell in the millions and are regularly adapted into even more widely consumed forms, particularly movies and television series. But why is this the case? Where does the novel as an art form come from, how has it developed, and how can we approach novels critically? And what exactly is a novel (a more difficult question that it seems)? We will try to begin to answer these questions with a historical approach, reading a set of novels spanning the 17th century to the present day. (The precise works we’ll read are subject to change, but will look something like this.)
The course opens by examining the “historical romance”—the precursor to the novel. We’ll look at the origins of the English-language novel, reading Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko (1688) and Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe (1719) to see some of the founding issues of the form and the historical “rise of the novel.” We’ll look at the Gothic weirdness of Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto (1764). Moving to the 19th century, we’ll read Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice (1813) with an eye to the development of the novel’s heroine, the idea of the bildungsroman (or “novel of development,” or coming-of-age story) and Austen’s innovations in narrative style (and we’ll watch film and tv adaptations). Nella Larsen’s Quicksand (1928) takes us to Harlem in the 1920s and explores, among other things, the limits of the development plot. We’ll conclude with a very recent novel to be determined. Throughout the course, we will work to develop a critical vocabulary for discussing novelistic character, narration, plot structure, themes, symbolism, and other aspects of the form. And if, at the course’s conclusion, we still aren’t sure what to think about some of the problems the novel form raises, we will hopefully have made progress in how to think about it.
Engl 27000
Literatures of Diversity: Introduction to Caribbean Literature
(fulfills Secondary English Education conc. req. for ethnic/minority literature or historical survey)
20014 sec. E Kedon Willis M, W 2:00 – 3:15pm
This course surveys the fiction, non-fiction and poetry of popular twentieth and twenty-first Caribbean authors. Students will be introduced to the major themes of Caribbean literature, as well as the basic tenets of ideas such as postcolonialism and environmental criticism. Students can expect to interact with literature from the diverse cultural regions of the Antilles, including Jamaica, Haiti, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic.
Engl 27000
Literatures of Diversity: Prison Literature
20012 sec. G Elizabeth Mazzola M, W 5:00 – 6:15pm
The curious flipside of a global world where ideas, things, and people might travel far and wide is an increasingly locked down world, where scores of people are detained, put away in camps or relocation centers, or kept alive and offsite in prison. How have writers described the role of prisons in society? What kind of history does the prison have, and what is its future? How does the prison operate as a business, as an architectural experiment, and as a setting for behavior modification, rehabilitation, or torture? How do writers use the prison as a metaphor for madness? For marriage? For modern life?
This class supplies a broad survey of prison writing from a variety of sources. We will read Kafka, Malcolm X, Richard Wright, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, romances about medieval prisoners, and perhaps some writings from the Tower of London. We will also look at paintings and photographs, and think about prison fashion, songs, rituals, and lingo. Our final destination will be an exploration of mass incarceration as a phenomenon rooted in racism, reconstruction, and some peculiarly American ideas about freedom, big business, and criminal behavior. Do Rikers and Guantanamo have their origins in the early prisons we’ll study, or are they developments only possible in the modern world? How might we dismantle them?
Engl 27000
Literatures of Diversity: The New Human “Nature”: The Rise of Meritocracy, Psychology, and Materialist Medicine
20013 sec. T Keith Gandal T, TH 6:30 – 7:45pm
The 1880-1919 period in the US saw technological, scientific, demographic, and epistemological changes unprecedented in history: the conquest of age-old diseases, the mobilization of a multi-million-man army along largely meritocratic lines, and the Great Immigration from southern and eastern Europe that made the country significantly multicultural and urban. These developments fundamentally transformed the terms of human experience and identity. Modern American literature registers and dramatizes these shocking changes, and we’ll consider their representation in American works, as well as a couple of European works that were immediately imported to the US.
Tentative texts:
Joan Didion, The Year of Magical Thinking
Rebecca Harding Davis, “Life in the Iron Mills”
Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives (excerpt)
Stephen Crane, Maggie: A Girl of the Streets (novella)
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “The Yellow Wallpaper”
Sigmund Freud, Five Lectures on Psycho-Analysis (excerpt)
Robert Louis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Willa Cather, One of Ours (excerpt)
F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises
Victor Daly, Not Only War (novella)
Katherine Anne Porter, “Pale Horse, Pale Rider”
300- Level Courses
Please note: 300-level classes assume some background and prior experience at the 200-level. Students should complete two 200 level courses before embarking on 300 level work; however, they may register for a single 300 level course if they are still completing 200 level requirements. Generally, these classes require two shorter essays and one longer assignment or final paper involving research or reference to secondary materials.
Engl 35302
Shakespeare II
(fulfills Secondary English Education conc. req. in Shakespeare)
20149 sec. D Estha Weiner M, W 12:30 – 1:45pm
Shakespeare II is a survey of Shakespeare’s later plays, beginning with Measure For Measure, a “problem comedy,” bursting genre boundaries, as all his genres defy boundaries. We’ll continue to three of his major tragedies, Hamlet, Othello, and Macbeth, and, finally, to one of his finest romances, The Tempest. The class will focus on Shakespeare’s language, on its physicality, as well as the physicality of his theatre, in light of the prevailing ideas and politics, secular and religious, in Early Modern England. We will never lose sight of his necessity to “put on a show.” We will always read the plays aloud, and students will memorize a monologue or scene of their choice to present. A variety of critical readings and movie viewings will illuminate our work: occasional in- class questions, short essays, the mid-term memorized pieces, and a final project chosen by each student, in consultation with the professor.
Engl 35900
Jane Austen
(fulfills Secondary English Education conc. req. in Women’s Literature)
20001 sec. M Daniel Gustafson T, TH 11:00 – 12:15pm
In this course, we will explore Jane Austen’s fiction and its relation to the cultural and literary contexts of eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Britain. Some of the questions that the class will think about are: How was her writing important to the history of the novel in England? How did it affect the development of a tradition in modern female authorship, feminist criticism, and gender studies? What kinds of culture wars surrounded the romance genre for which she is famous? How are her novels shaped by preoccupations of her historical moment, specifically issues of war and revolution, radicalism and conservative backlash, gender rights, and globalism? We will read most of Austen’s major works, some of her lesser known fiction and literature by her contemporaries, and some literary criticism.
Engl 36200
Rep US Writers of the 20th Century
(fulfills Secondary English Education conc. req. in American literature or historical survey)
20091 sec. R Keith Gandal T, TH 3:30 – 4:45pm
This course explores American literature during the course of what has been called “the American Century.” W.E.B. Du Bois declared that the problem of the 20th century would be the problem of race, and we can affirm that claim while adding some supplementary problems that have shaped American literature since 1900: the problems of gender, ethnicity, class, sexuality, and ability. The course will attempt to revise our traditional understandings of modernist and postmodern literature, based on an examination of America’s internal developments and rise to world prominence with the World Wars.
Tentative Reading List:
F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises
Katherine Anne Porter, “Pale Horse, Pale Rider” (novella)
Victor Daly, Not Only War (novella)
Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God
Claude Brown, Manchild in the Promised Land (excerpt)
Michael Herr, Dispatches (excerpt)
Toni Morrison, Sula
Maxine Hong Kingston, The Woman Warrior
Sandra Cisneros, The House on Mango Street
Poetry of T.S. Eliot, Langston Hughes, Wallace Stevens, Gwendolyn Brooks
Engl 36400
Migration and Undocumented Writers in the US
18274 sec. C Sophia Yip M, W 11:00 – 12:15pm
Migration, one of the most dynamic phenomena throughout human history, is likewise one of the most contested issues facing our world today. In this course, we’ll explore representations of migration, displacement, border crossings, belonging, unbelonging, and resistance in the works of contemporary diasporic and undocumented writers. We’ll explore key designations such as “undocumented,” “illegal,” and “alien” to understand the historical configuration of the undocumented subject in the US context. We’ll read in a range of genres, including memoir, fiction, and poetry. Our tentative authors include Javier Zamora, Marcelo Hernandez Castillo, Jose Antonio Vargas, Qian Julie Wang, and Karla Cornejo Villavicencio. While this course intends to foreground the voices of undocumented writers, we’ll also read from other diasporic writers comparatively. By doing so, we’ll consider more broadly the genre of undocumented literature—which often gets rendered invisible in history—and its relation to the global literary canon. Short writing assignments, a midterm essay, and a final research paper.
Engl 36900
Rhetoric of Social Movements
20148 sec. B Olivia Wood M, W 9:30 – 10:45am
This course examines the verbal and non-verbal rhetorical strategies of groups and individuals attempting to effect social change and the counter-strategies of those who oppose them, using the U.S. LGBTQ+ liberation movement as a case study. We will look at how social movements attempt to transform perceptions of social reality, alter the self-perception of protestors, develop demands, legitimize the movement, prescribe courses of action, mobilize for action, and sustain the movement. We begin by understanding how the rhetorics of social movements operate by looking at three time periods in the United States: the emergence of gay identity and early homophile societies (late 1800s-1960s), the emergence of the Gay Liberation movement post-Stonewall (1969-1980s) and the response to the AIDS crisis (late 1980s-1990s). We then move to examining 21st century topics in the movement(s) for LGBTQ+ rights, including the fight for marriage equality, anti-trans laws and policies, intersections of oppressions, LGBTQ+ content in schools, and more. For their final project, students will choose a contemporary topic in the fight for queer liberation and examine the rhetorical techniques used by activists involved.
Engl 37100
Black Women’s Literature and Performance
(fulfills Secondary English Education conc. req. in ethnic/minority literature)
20102 sec. P Janee Moses T, TH 2:00 – 3:15pm
What do Ma Rainey and Beyoncé have in common? Are blues performances the origin of black feminism(s)? How has each, in her times, shaped black women’s conceptions of identity? Their negotiations with race, gender, sexuality, and class? Through the lenses of music, performances, and fiction, this course will explore these questions, examining the tradition of early blues women such as Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, and Billie Holiday and the impact of their feminist legacies on artists and writers in the 20th and 21st centuries. The course is divided into four parts: Part 1 provides the theoretical foundation for examining the blues as both sound and language practice or song and text. Part 2 explores the method of the blues tradition in novels and performances to examine how black women use language to deal with complex circumstances in their romantic and familial relationships. Part 3 examines the legacies of blues women in black feminist rhetoric and scholarship of the late 20th century, focusing specifically on the emergence of new black radicalisms and hip-hop culture. Part 4 interprets popular formulations of Black Feminism with 21st century performer, Beyoncé.
Engl 37900
Critical Perspectives on AI
18263 sec. F Pamela Stemberg M, W 3:30 – 4:45pm
In this course, we’ll explore how artificial intelligence is transforming society, education, and the workplace through critical analysis and inquiry. This course bridges literature and culture, beginning with early myths and philosophical ideas about created intelligences and tracing their evolution to modern AI. Through dynamic writing projects, case studies, and discussions, we’ll examine AI’s ethical challenges and broader societal implications. The course will review how AI works by examining the algorithms and data that power these systems, using metaphors and accessible analogies to make complex concepts clear and relatable. By studying AI’s development and analyzing its impact on culture and work, students will develop versatile communication skills to engage with these topics creatively and critically.
Engl 39200
Cross-listed with JWST 31915
Absurdist Jewish Film and Fiction
(fulfills Secondary English Education conc. req. in ethnic/minority literature)
20824 sec. M Amy Kratka T, TH 11:00 – 12:15pm
It’s post-pandemic and we have developed a taste for the absurd. This course explores Jews onscreen and in texts navigating a wildly improbable and highly unusual reality.
Engl 39200
Cross-listed with JWST 31714
Italian Jewish Women Writers
(fulfills Secondary English Education conc. req. in ethnic/minority literature)
20823 sec. R Corinna Messina-Kociuba T, TH 3:30 – 4:45pm
This course will explore the work of Italian Jewish women writers and their efforts to construct subjects through autobiographical writings. Students will engage in the reading of authors such as Natalia Ginzburg, Lia Levi, Clara Sereni, and Edith Bruck, among others, and analyze their representations of history, genealogy, trauma, and “self-construction”.
Capstone Seminars – recommended after 24 credits in the major
These courses are strongly recommended upon completing 24 credits in the major and can only be registered with an English Advisor.
Engl 49000
Poetry Bootcamp: Prosody, the Craft and Writing of Poetic Forms
20008 sec. 2NP Michelle Valladares TU 12:30 – 2:30pm
This capstone seminar is a craft and creative writing workshop that will explore different poetic forms. Each week we will study forms like the sonnet, villanelle, sestina, haiku, ghazal and others. Following our study of craft, students will write their own poems following the structure and rules of each form. Our readings will include poets like Shakespeare, Elizabeth Bishop, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, and contemporary poets. We will use two texts: The Making of a Poem, A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms, edited by Mark Strand and Eavan Boland and A Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver. Participation and weekly assignments are critical, with less emphasis on writing a perfect poem.
Engl 49000
Troubled Ecologies in Caribbean Literature
(fulfills Secondary English Education conc. req. in ethnic/minority literature)
20007 sec. 3FG Kedon Willis W 4:00 – 6:00pm
This course surveys writers of different cultural backgrounds throughout the Americas to examine their portrayal of the natural world. The lure of terra nullius (nobody’s land) inspired nature writings variously evoking “the New World” as boundless, Edenic, and transcendental. For Indigenous, enslaved and indentured populations, however, these lands were also sources of bondage or violent dispossession. This course therefore sets out to ask: what is the language of the landscape within the works of Caribbean writers conscious of this history? How do notions of the idyllic collide with realities of coerced labor and exile? And how do contemporary writers frame the ecological disasters that pose heightened risks to island and coastal territories? As a class, we will survey poems, shorts stories, novels and non-fiction excerpts moving us from the colonial period into the present and allowing us to visit locations throughout the American continent and the Caribbean.
Creative Writing Courses
Engl 22000
Introduction to Creative Writing
19899 sec. B TBA M, W 9:30 – 10:45am
19898 sec. C TBA M, W 11:00 – 12:15pm
19897 sec. E TBA M, W 2:00 – 3:15pm
19896 sec. H TBA M, W 6:30 – 7:45pm
19895 sec. L TBA T, TH 9:30 – 10:45am
19894 sec. P Kevaughn Hunter T 2:00 – 3:15pm (online mix)
19893 sec. R TBA T, TH 3:30 – 4:45pm
24906 sec. S Julia Lattimer T, TH 5:00 – 6:15pm
This course is an entry-level overview of creative writing, introducing students to various genres and techniques as they learn to produce creative work. Above all, students will be required to write extensively, learning the craft through experience and instructor feedback.
Engl 22005
Cross-listed with JWST 31183
Autobiography and Creative Non-Fiction
20633 sec. F Matthew Goodman M, W 3:30 – 4:45pm
Explore the art and craft of storytelling with the guidance of a New York Times-bestselling author.
Engl 22100
Prerequisite: English 22000
Intermediate Creative Writing: Reading as Writers
20150 sec. F Estha Weiner M, W 3:30 – 4:45pm
Reading and Writing go together. This Intermediate Creative Writing Workshop links reading and discussing poems, short stories (fiction), and drama with improving your own writing in those three genres. You will read the texts as readers and writers, becoming more aware of the tools of each genre, as you do so. The readings should act as a catalyst/prompt for your own work. Be prepared to discuss those readings. Then comes presentation of your own first drafts in a workshop format, culminating in a final manuscript, and a required Reading Day. Workshopping will usually be in alphabetical order, to be fair. If we are able to workshop or privately meet about your final drafts, we will. Please attend readings at CCNY and throughout our five boroughs, and consider submitting your own work to college literary magazines.
24864 sec. R Soraya Palmer T, TH 3:30 – 4:45pm
My goal for this course is to help you to tap into the unexpected and embrace the elements of surprise in your writing. I will be encouraging you to embrace the childhood parts of your imagination in order to get you out of your comfort zone and allow you to experiment, to fail, and to try again. Some weeks will include prompts that all students will be expected to partake in at home and (time permitting) in class. These assignments are aimed at examining the craft techniques we are familiar with from an unfamiliar lens. We will be focusing on fiction and nonfiction authors who may experiment with style, genre, and form. Each author will have the opportunity to be workshopped twice, once in fiction and once in nonfiction. Students will be expected to actively participate both verbally and in writing during each workshop.
Engl 23000
Prose Writing Workshop
19888 sec. D TBA M, W 12:30 – 1:45pm
19886 sec. F TBA M, W 3:30 – 4:45pm
19885 sec. G TBA M, W 5:00 – 6:15pm
20488 sec. L TBA T, TH 9:30 – 10:45am
19883 sec. R TBA T, TH 3:30 – 4:45pm
19881 sec. S TBA T, TH 5:00 – 6:15pm
In this course the varieties of prose writing, excluding fiction, will be practiced. The class is devoted to exploring such nonfictional forms as personal essay writing, reportage, memoir and biographical writing, sketches and opinion pieces. Throughout the semester students will read exemplary works from each area of nonfiction and will also spend considerable time practicing the genre through continuous exercises given by the instructor each week. Students will also learn to revise their works, respond to their peers’ writing, and work toward one to two major papers assigned for the semester.
Engl 32000
Prerequisite: English 22100
Workshop in Fiction
18275 sec. D Dalia Sofer M, W 12:30 – 1:45pm
This biweekly workshop aims to support you in becoming a more astute reader and writer of fiction. It is only to be taken by those who have already completed ENGLISH 22100. In the first part of the course, we will read and discuss a range of short stories and novel excerpts, focusing on various elements of craft—including point of view, character, narrative tension, form, and language. You will also complete brief writing exercises (sometimes in class) and assignments inspired by the readings. In the second part of the course, we will critique your manuscripts—short stories or excerpts from longer works—and again we will address questions of narrative and craft. The aim of our discussions will be to support you in your writing process, spark new ideas, and help you become a better editor of your own work.
24868 sec. P Lyn Di Iorio T, TH 2:00 – 3:15pm
This course is designed for advanced creative writing students who wish to develop their short story drafts in an intensive workshop atmosphere. The number of required submissions for the semester is either three short stories—drafts for which more revision is intended—or two short stories and one revision already seen by the class. The drafts can be any length from five to 15 double-spaced pages. Other required work involves a literary magazine assignment. Each writer will deliver a brief oral report on a magazine of their choosing. As a refresher on craft and technique, I will also assign chapters from Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King. The group should have plenty to read with our own submissions and the stories from literary magazines, but occasionally I might also assign outside reading.
Please be advised: attendance is crucial for the general well-being of the workshop, and so is responsible, generous sharing of written critiques of each workshop submission with the writer. Missing more than one workshop meeting is a serious omission and without an appropriate medical or other emergency-related excuse can lead to failing the class.
Required book: Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Second Edition, by Renni Browne and Dave King (available at the CCNY Bookstore).
Engl 32100
Prerequisite: English 22100
Workshop in Poetry
19890 sec. G Michael Montlack M, W 5:00 – 6:15pm
Sometimes the muses just don’t show up. Or not as often as we’d like. This workshop is designed to lure them to your door and keep them coming back—through reading contemporary poets, discussing their techniques and styles, then incorporating them in some fashion into your own poems, even if it’s just as a source of inspiration. Drafts will be workshopped and revised on a weekly basis. Topics will include Portrait, Form, Imitation, Narrative, Repetition, and Direct Address. In addition, there will be some time spent on ways to revise more bravely, going beyond line edits and actually re-seeing poems.
There will be occasional in-class writing exercises and prompts to get things started. While each assignment is meant to develop an element of craft, you will be encouraged to forge your own voice and style. One aim might be to create a foundation for a chapbook or series. By the end of the semester, five (or more) revised poems will be submitted with a process paper that reflects on what you experienced and learned while creating them—whether it’s about poetry, craft, or yourself as an artist.
Engl 32300
Prerequisite: English 22100
TV and Film Writing Workshop
20080 sec. 1DE Marc Palmieri M 12:30 – 3:15pm
We will examine the storytelling possibilities of writing for this highly technical and collaborative art form. Students will develop a script for the large or small screen – either film, television or webseries, and participate in brief “read-alouds” of portions of the drafts, and feedback discussions of classmates’ work. Those interested in adapting one of his or her works of fiction, non-fiction or poetry to a screenplay form are encouraged to do so. This process comes with its own interesting set of expectations and strategies, and can be an enlightening exercise in the general honing of your story structure.
List of Interdisciplinary Electives that will be counted toward major requirements
Only one course offered outside of the English Department will count toward the English major requirement
ANTH 20200 – Language in Cross-Cultural Perspective
ARAB 30100 – Selected Topics in Arabic Literature
ASIA 31104 – Modern Japanese Literature & Films
ASIA 31914 – Contemporary East Asian Film
CLSS 32100 – Classical Mythology
FREN 28300 – Literature of Contemporary France
HIST 23900 – 20th Century Europe Through Film
INTL 31955 – Global Media Cultures
JWST 31183 – Autobiography & Creative Nonfiction
MCA 32300 – Screenwriting Workshop 1
PHIL 20600 – Philosophy of Science Fiction
PORT 40100 – Selected Topics in Luso-Brazilian Literature*
PSC 21700 – Mass Media & Politics
THTR 33100 – Playwriting I
WS 39100 – Writing Resistance
*The CMLL Department will waive the pre-requisites for PORT 40100 for English majors. Texts will be taught in English, but students are welcome to read them in Portuguese.
Fall 2025 Publishing Certificate Program Courses
NOTE: Publishing courses are electives. They do not count toward English major or minor requirements, but only toward fulfillment of the Publishing Certificate Program (PCP), or as general electives taken individually. Publishing courses are open to students from all majors and require no prerequisites for registration. Students who intend to complete the Publishing Certificate must “add plan” in iDeclare.
The Publishing Certificate requires 15 elective credits (4 PCP-approved courses + Independent Study
OR 5 PCP-approved courses). PCP-approved courses may include 1 select course in art, marketing, public relations, advertising, or economics.
Engl 32501 – Introduction to Publishing
22500 sec. 2LM Cherise Fisher TU 9:30am – 12:00pm
22502 sec. 4TU Jennifer Baker TH 6:00 – 8:30pm
Introduction to Publishing introduces students to various roles at publishers of trade books (books for the general consumer). The course is designed to provide an overview of the book business—from the role of the author, agent, and acquiring editor at manuscript stage; how books are made and the book-making teams (design, production, managing editorial); and how books are sold (publicity and marketing, sales, distribution). Additional aspects of book publishing to be discussed include legal areas such as copyright and DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging).
An important aspect of this course is helping students find their potential niche in book publishing should they pursue the full Publishing Certificate. The course concludes with steps to employment stressing resume preparation, introductory letters to publishers, and interview preparation. The course aims at inculcating professionalism and industry knowledge in students as they prepare for careers in book publishing.
Engl 32800 – Fundamentals of Copyediting & Proofreading
22506 sec. 1HJ Pamela R. Maines M 6:30 – 9:00pm
In this course, students learn the key functions of the copy editor and the proofreader in the context of the book publishing workflow, print or digital. Students will refresh their knowledge of grammar and punctuation fundamentals, as well as learn how to assess the needs of different types of manuscripts. In addition, we will cover the standards for page elements, fact checking, creating style sheets, and collaborating with others in the workflow.
Engl 32803 – Global Publishing
22503 sec. 4ST Edison García TH 5:30 – 8:00pm
Global Publishing offers a comprehensive exploration of international book export. Students delve into key aspects of book production and organizational dynamics, examining the evolving landscape of global publishing pre and post COVID-19. Through case studies and discussions, students learn how to initiate new publishing business ventures and foster collaborative efforts, with a focus on regions such as Asia, India, Europe, Australia, and Latin America. By course completion, students gain a nuanced understanding of global publishing principles, preparing them for careers in the dynamic field of international book export.
Engl 31003 – Independent Study (3 credits)
With an approved, polished, resume and cover letter, students may potentially register for a three-credit independent study that represents an internship in the book publishing field. Registration consideration is given after completion of 4 PCP-eligible courses. Permission and document approval by the Publishing Certificate Program director is required. Requests must be received in advance of your last semester of study.